I talk to my friend every few weeks. We met over twenty years ago when we lived in the same city. Now we live at opposite ends of the country, so our contact is mostly by phone and email. Every few weeks, we have a long conversation in which we share what’s happening in our lives, the books we read, and our thoughts about the world.
We spoke a couple of Saturdays ago about how we were doing living through the coronavirus pandemic. Like most people we both know, the coronavirus has led to much less socializing and much more time at home. I spoke with my friend about the ways we’ve perceived the stress and tension in the US as the number of cases increase while the government has allowed the coronavirus to spread out of control. We agreed: it all seems dire. Neither of us expects circumstances to improve in the near future. She paused and after a moment of silence asked, “Where do you find hope?” I laughed and confessed that hope for me is really on short supply. She pushed further in asking about my sources of hope as we live day to day. To be honest, I didn’t have an answer that satisfied me as we talked.
If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, then you know that each morning I post an inspirational quote from a spiritual teacher or writer. In the past, I’ve searched for quotes about hope. I do find a variety of quotes and memes about hope that I could post, but I skip over them. I read them and think that they are shallow and vapid. They often present some ungrounded platitude like, “Jesus is the reason to hope.” Honestly, I don’t know what that means. Worse yet are sentiments like, “God never gives you more than you can handle.” Seriously? In fact, life’s circumstances are sometimes more than what people are capable of handling. Sometimes things in life break people, leaving them to struggle through life as fragile and wounded people. Others, well…I think of the people I’ve known who could not cope with life any longer and committed suicide. It seems that life was too much for them to handle. In the face of these platitudes, I have to affirm: God doesn’t give us hardship in life. No, the natural cycle of life comes with hardship and struggle. God is with us in the midst of hardship as a source of strength.
But back to the real question. In these days, where do I find hope?
Each day, I bring a cup of coffee to a front room in my home and sit beside a window for prayer and meditation. The window faces east. During my time of prayer, the sun typically makes its way over the tree line and fills the room with brightness. The experience of the rising sun gives me comfort. Part of my prayer is a verse from Psalm 118 that I repeat each morning: “This is the day God has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” For me, it is an affirmation and a statement of hopeful intent. The day is a gift from the Creator. Today, I have the opportunity to delight in this gift no matter what comes my way. Perhaps that affirmation, and my attempt to live faithfully from the belief that today is a gift from God, is a way to live in hope.
My desk faces a window. Out the window, just above the monitor for my computer, hangs a hummingbird feeder. Throughout the day, I see a family of hummingbirds swirling around the feeder in flight. Seeing them gives me a quiet sense of joy. When I pause to reflect on those small, energetic birds, I’m aware that I have hope in life and the amazing creatures that surround us.
It’s in these simple things, like the sunrise and birds at play, that I find hope. It is a hope and belief in life’s essential goodness. No matter what insanity government officials come up with or the levels of greed that direct corporate decisions, there remains something of beauty and simplicity in the world. That is where I find hope.
The gift of being human is that we are able to choose to focus on moments and experiences that give us hope. We don’t have to accept anyone else’s interpretations of what life should be. Instead, we are free to choose what it means for us to be alive each day. Today, in the midst of great struggle in the world, particularly in the United States, I chose to have hope, to live with hope, and to look forward with hope. My hope is that I can find goodness and beauty around me and in the people with whom I share this life. Perhaps if we can focus on encountering goodness and beauty, healing will be found in our broken world.
Photo by Nikolaj Erema from pexels.com